Heading into this past week, many questioned the Arizona Cardinals defense and if they'd be able to slow down the vaunted offense of the Dallas Cowboys. We heard from the very beginning of the game that the Cowboys should be able to beat the Cardinals with a power running game and that the Cardinals secondary wouldn't be able to keep up with the high powered passing game. The Cardinals ended up holding the Cowboys offense 33 yards under their per game average in total yards and six points shy of their points per game average. While the Cardinals' defense didn't shut down the big plays of the Boys, they did do a good job of disrupting the offense and kept Tony Romo and their running game from getting into any kind of rhythm.

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The Cardinals injuries are piling up and I'm sure there are some guys who are looking forward to a weekend off to let all the bumps and bruises heal. It's obviously not good to see all three of your tight ends and both starting corners on the injury list. As for the tight ends, I would imagine that Patrick will have to practice tomorrow if he wants to play and it'll be interesting to see if they let Tuman play considering today and yesterday were his first two practices since training camp. Eric Green's injury is much less of a concern than Roderick Hood's right now. Hood's groin was reportably "very sore" earlier in the week and he's crucial to the success of the secondary. Bertrand Berry really wants to play in this game but he'll have to get medical clearance before he's allowed back. Torn groins don't normally heal in just two weeks but we'll find out soon enough. I haven't seen any definitive news on Boldin's status, but I'll update if I get some more news. 

From what I've heard, Roy Wiliams, Kyle Kosier and Terence Newman are officially out. The team is hopeful that Watkins can play because he didn't play last week and that forced Keith Davis, a good special teams player but poor safety, into the starting job. All the other guys on that list will play.

Update: Anquan Boldin has been ruled out and Ben Patrick is doubtful. Even one else is questionable but should play. For the Cowboys, Patrick Watkins has been ruled out which means that Keith Davis will be the starter. The Cardinals will test him deep.

The Arizona Cardinals welcome the Dallas Cowboys to the desert this week and even though they're favored on the road, they've got their share of questions marks. They're secondary is dinged up, the offense isn't clicking and they've got more off the field questions every day. The Cardinals should be able to create some mismatches on Sunday and it'll be interesting to see how aggressive the game plan is on both offense and defense. First we'll take a look at what the Cardinals' defense will have to do in order to limit the Cowboys' offense. The Dallas offense is second in the league in scoring (30.2 ppg) and third in the league in total yards (407.4 ypg). Check out the breakdowns after the jump.....

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Unless you left the country this weekend, you probably heard about CBS Sports releasing their annual top 50 players in the NFL. Ultimately these kind of lists don't mean a single thing and are basically compiled to incite conversation (mission accomplished). If you haven't looked over the list, take a look and give me your thoughts. For what  it's worth here are the Cardinals players who made the list and my beefs with some of the guys who made it and some of the guys who didn't.

31. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals gave him a new contract in March because he's their go-to guy. He teams with Anquan Boldin to form one of the top receiving duos.

Just missed: Adrian Wilson, S, Arizona Cardinals

Now, there's only guy I can make a legitimate case for who should be on this list , Anquan Boldin. I'd have a much bigger case if there were more receivers on the list but there were only nine: Moss (4th), Owens (13th), Steve Smith (21st), Wayne (22nd), Andre Johnson (26th), Ocho Cinco (28th), Fitz (31st), Braylon Edwards (34th) and Wes Welker (48th). Of the guys on that list, I'd personally put Boldin ahead of Welker considering that Q has three seasons that were as good as or better than Welker's sole standout season. I guess that's what happens when you play for a media darling like the Patriots versus playing in the desert.

Other head scratchers:

Quarterback: Is Carson Palmer really the 8th best player in the entire league and 3rd best quarterback? Before you answer consider this:

QB1 - 61 games, 64.1 completion %, a combined QB rating of 90.1 and per game numbers of 244 yards, 1.71 TDs and1.03 INTs

QB2 - 93 games, 65.1 completion %, a combined QB rating of 93.2 and per game numbers of 258 yards, 1.63 TDs and 1.07 INTs

In case anyone is wondering QB1 is Palmer and QB2 is Kurt Warner. Now I'm not in any manner trying to say that Warner deserves to be on this list or that he's a better quarterback than Palmer, but I am trying to say that Palmer is highly overrated if he's considered anywhere close to a top 10 player in the NFL.

Tight End: First I'll go ahead and state that this is possibly my favorite position (partly because that's where I played in school) so I always try and follow the better tight ends in the league. The tight ends who made the list were Gates (24th), Kellen Winslow (44th) and Tony G (46th), but the name that jumps out to me that is missing is Jason Witten. I'd personally take Witten over either Winlsow or Gonzalez because he's the not only an excellent receiver, but also a good blocker (which Winslow isn't) and he's still young (which Gonzalez isn't) at just 26 years old.

A couple of other things that rubbed me the wrong way:

• Where's Jason Taylor? Sure he's 33 years old and his best days are behind him, but to think that a guy that's averaged over 12.5 sacks the past eight seasons isn't even in the top 50 is ridiculous.
  
• Please don't show this list to Darnell Dockett. He likes to compare himself to Tommie Harris and Harris was ranked 36th.
  

So what do you guys think of the list? What tweaks would you make and who deserves to be on here that isn't and who would you boot off?

The 2003 NFL draft was action packed and kept fans on the edge of their seat as each of the first three selections was involved in some sort of trade. To make a long story short, the Cardinals traded their sixth overall and their early second round pick to New Orleans for New Orleans' two first round picks and their second round pick. So instead of the Cardinals picking 6th overall and 5th in the second round, they Cardinals got the 17th and 18th overall pick and the 22nd pick of the second round.

First Round Pick (17th Overall): Bryant Johnson WR - Penn State

The Cards reached a bit on the Penn State product and Johnson was pretty much the same receiver that his draft profile would suggest. The book on him coming into the draft was that he had decent speed and ran good routes, but that he would had mental lapses that would lead to dropped passes. Johnson was a solid player for his five seasons in Arizona but he wasn't the game changer that they were hoping for out with the 17th pick. He started at least 8 games in four of his five seasons but never really stood out for an extended period of time. His best season was in 2006 when he caught 40 passes for 740 yards (18.5 ypc) and four touchdowns. Johnson didn't get nearly the contract offers that he was hoping for this off season and signed just a one year deal for $2 million with San Francisco in March.

First Round Pick (18th Overall): Calvin Pace DE - Wake Forest

The Cards again reached on a guy who had an early second round
projection and Pace underwhelmed the franchise for four seasons. Luckily for Pace though, he had his best season as a pro during 2007 and he parlayed it into a lucrative contract with the Jets. Pace started his rookie season and finished the year with just over 30 tackles and a single sack. He'd lose his starting job the following season and would spend the next three seasons as a spot starter and he'd total 52 tackles and 5.5 sacks before exploding in 2007 under the Cardinals new 3-4 defense. Pace returned to a starting role at outside linebacker and finished the season with 98 tackles, 6.5 sacks and his first interception. Pace will remain as an outside linebacker with the Jets so we'll see if his breakout season was the result of a defense that finally suited him or a desire to get a big payday.

Other possible first round selections: Kevin Williams, Terrell Suggs, Marcus Trufant, Troy Polamalu

Second Round Pick: Anquan Boldin WR - Florida State

Boldin overcame a horrible combine performance (4.72 forty) and what he felt was a slip on draft day to explode onto the NFL scene in his first game with 10 receptions for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns. He'd go on to finish his rookie campaign with 101 receptions for 1,377 yards and 8 touchdowns en route to his first Pro Bowl. Boldin has went on wreaking havoc on the rest of the NFL for the next four seasons and injuries seem to be the only thing that can slow him down. Since his rookie season, he's missed 12 games but has still managed two more seasons with over 1,000 yards and set new career highs in both receptions (102 in 2005), yards (1402 in 2005), yards per catch (14.5 in 2006) and touchdowns (9 in 2007) since his rookie season. Boldin's list of acolades through five seasons include two Pro Bowls, a Rookie of the Year award and he's set records for most receiving yards for a rookie in his first game, most receptions in first 26 games (157), fastest WR to 300 receptions (47 games) and fastest WR to 400 receptions (67 games).

Other possible picks: Osi Umenyiora, Lance Briggs, Jason Witten

Third Round Pick: Gerald Hayes LB - Pittsburgh

Hayes took a while to get acclimated to the NFL, starting just three games during his first two seasons, then a knee injury ended his third season before it even got started. His fourth season though would be his coming out party. He started 14 games and finished the season with 93 tackles, one sack and three interceptions. Hayes improved on those numbers in 2007, starting every game and finishing just shy of 100 tackles and added four sacks, an interception and his first touchdown. Hayes isn't a flashy player but he fits perfectly into weakside linebacker role of Clancy Pendergast's 3-4. Hayes is solid against the run, can punish opposing ball carriers and his style of play should allow him to keep racking up tackles for quite some time.

Other possible selections: Nate Burleson, Kevin Curtis, Chris Brown

Fifth Round Pick: Kenny King DT - Alabama

King played in 11 games, even starting one, his rookie season and totaled 17 tackles and two sacks but he wouldn't play in another game for the Cardinals over the next three seasons. King missed the entire 2004 and 2005 season with a wrist injury and the same injury caused him to miss most of 2006 as well. He left after the 2006 season and most recently failed a physical with the Ravens.

Other possible selections: Justin Gage, Brian St. Pierre, Dan Koppen

Sixth Round Pick: Reggie Wells OT - Clarion

Not many NFL starters come out of Clarion University but Wells has been the starter for at offensive guard for the past four seasons. He's become one of the most consistent starters on the offensive line and at this point is a veteran who not only tutors the young players but also leads by example. Wells is signed through the 2010 season and even though he'll likely never reach Hawaii, he's a solid contributor that the Birds can count on and an absolute steal in the sixth round.

Other possible selections: Gerome Sapp, Cato June

Sixth Round Pick (Compensatory Selection): Tony Gilbert LB - Georgia

Gilbert didn't make the 53-man roster out of camp in 2003 but the Cardinals signed him to the practice squad. He didn't last long on the p-squad though as the Jaguars signed him to their active roster in October. Gilbert has gone on to star on the Jags special teams units, playing in 56 games and totaling 38 special teams tackles. He's also added 23 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery on defense. He signed a new contract with Jacksonville after the 2007 season.

Other possible selections: David Tyree, Yeremiah Bell, Tully Banta-Cain

All in all, another solid draft for the Cardinals. They'll enter the 2008 season with 3 above average starters (Boldin, Hayes and Wells) and the 2003 draft combined to start over 230 games for the Cardinals and played in a total of 350 games. A draft with that kind of production can't be any lower than a very solid A.

Some might consider this blasphemy, but the selections after Boldin really intrigued me, especially Osi and Witten. If we re-drafted the 2003 draft would you still take Boldin over those two or someone else that catches your eye?